When Eli was younger than he is now, he had a strong preference for Misty. He would play with me happily enough, but it was an on-again, off-again sort of thing, the father-baby equivalent of being grade-school secret friends.

With that in mind, I give you the following short scene.

GRANADE HOUSEHOLD, JANUARY 11, 6:47 PM

Night has fallen. STEPHEN is in the bathroom, door closed, when he hears ELI calling.

ELI
Where daddy?

STEPHEN
I’m in the bathroom. I’ll be out in a minute.

ELI
(knocking)
knock knock knock

STEPHEN
No, really, I’m in the bathroom!

ELI
Daddy! DADDY! DADDY!

STEPHEN
…

ELI
DADDY! WHERE DADDY? DADDY!

The sounds of sobbing can be heard through the bathroom door.

STEPHEN
It’s okay, Eli! I’ll be out in a minute! Hang on!

ELI
…

The silence unnerves STEPHEN. Then he sees tiny tiny fingers slipping under the bathroom door.

ELI
DADDY! KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK! DADDY? WHERE DADDY? DAAAAAAAAADDY!

Spurred on by the obvious distress in ELI’s voice, STEPHEN hurries and comes out of the bathroom.

5 Comments

Aw. Kids. They tug at your heartstrings just before plunging in the knife.

Samantha’s latest tactic, when I tell her to do something she doesn’t want to do, is to first resist as much as possible, and then comply, followed by loudly announcing that I’m no longer her friend and/or that I am a mean daddy.

The first thing I thought of when I read that line was back when we first banished the cat from the bedroom, the kitty would whine and poke his paw under the door. The look on ‘s was heartbreaking whenever this happened.

At least, if nothing else, if a similar scenario happens with Embie, we should be hard-hearted and used to that specific tug-on-the-heartstrings tactic. Right? Right?

Though a grandparent, I can still remember my own childhood quite well. I particularly remember one aunt, when my (female) cousins would use the “mean mommy” accusation, consistently replying “Well I should be. I went to ‘mean mommy’ school!” While not effective at ending the whines/accusations, it obviously made an impression. The generation that heard it has made it family lore and employed it themselves.